How to Run a Successful Staff Meeting

Any salon owner will tell you, great salon meetings help transform people, companies and team cultures.  And those same owners can also share experiences with you regarding the polar opposite.  It is understood that running a staff meeting can come with plenty of challenges: lack of leadership, poor planning and low attendance and morale. Gavin Salsbery, a consultant for Summit Salon Business Center, takes some time to show us how to maximize participation and results from every staff meeting.

Just what is the difference between a good staff meeting and great staff meeting? “They should be fun, inspirational, informative and educational in nature. They are engaging and recognize people’s accomplishments.”  Gavin explains, “The greatest obstacle we see getting in the way of this being accomplished is with leadership. Top 20 best practices that salon leaders exhibit are organization, planning, passion and vision and the ability to communicate this to their team in a very positive context.  If they are not planned, be prepared for them to take on a life of their own and fall short of your expectations and the company’s mission.  Sometimes it’s a simple as having a template you complete prior to the meeting that helps you design and format your content.  Keep it simple, don’t overthink it and follow the template. You can still have your own style!”

“Meetings serve as a significant puzzle piece in the big scheme of having a great company culture.” Gavin explains, “Your people matter, they want to feel a part of something, the staff meetings give you a forum to bring this all to light.”

GAVIN’S TOP 5 TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR SALON MEETINGS:

1. GET ORGANIZED

• Set up your monthly staff meetings 12 months in advance.
• Dedicate time for planning your staff meeting.
• Create an agenda and fill out your staff meeting template form
• Gather feedback for your staff prior to planning
• Communicate these dates in paystubs, message boards, private group Facebook pages, text and at staff meetings.
• Promote meeting agenda with team prior to meeting

2. BE ON PURPOSE

• Keep the content and overall agenda focused on the current company operations and promotions.
• Consider implementing a chapter out of “Over the Top”, so you can dedicate time to business building, teaching and sharing sessions.
• Follow your agenda on your staff meeting template form…  Don’t get trapped in the weeds and sidetracked.
• Keep it simple and focus on the 3 – 5 most important objectives at hand.
• Don’t forget to follow up on current actions and strategies at play with your team.

3. CELEBRATE & RECOGNIZE

• Focus on individual accomplishments; team high fives, sales results, individual promotions and contest updates and winners!
• Share best practices, positive customer survey’s and reviews.
• Communicate company goals, results and overall outcomes.
• Don’t forget about new team introductions as well as recognition of employee tenure.

4. GET ENGAGEMENT

• Delegate parts and portions of your staff meeting to others
• Get your support team manager involved
• Got leadership team? Allow the leadership team to report and share updates, news, information, processes, new changes, etc.
• Encourage positive feedback and ask engaging questions.
• Pause a couple of times to encourage partner sharing, one on one talk to your neighbor type of moments.

5. HAVE FUN

• Kick them off with fun team building exercises. Google it!
• Create a high 5 segment in your meetings where team members are able to give high 5’s to each other for appreciation and gratitude for help, support, team work, etc.
• Reward contest promotions with give-a-ways and prizes.
• Don’t be so serious.

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